Filesharing - Give us a chance!

[Endrik]

big corporations don't get money.. they can't hire good producers who can't hire good engineers who can't pay for good studios who can't pay rent.

soon we are overflown with home made shitty sounding "products"

can't wait

[Endrik]

Trent Reznor realised that the industry is hukklefucked and now makes new NIN albums freely downloadable... also encourages people to illeagaly download his older albums to fuck the record labels.
He also sells his new albums as CD's and stuff like that and he knows that he has a huge loyal fanbase who will buy the albums.

Radiohead and many others are doing the same.

This works for the established artists who has a big following.

New bands are screwed.

People DO NOT EXPECT TO MAKE A LIVING WITH MUSIC!!!

[thetroy]

You're welcome to try, Venom.

[thetroy]

Every action carries with it a certain set of consequences. If one is willing to accept the consequences of a specific action, then one should feel free to do said action.

There really is nothing else to this. Systems of legality just serve to assign more negative consequences to certain actions which are deemed 'bad' by a legislature. Systems of morality are entirely subjective and not worth discussing in this thread.

[Venomboy]

I'm going to thetroy's house and stealing his zillion dollars worth of music.

I can't afford a computer or interweb so I will break in his house and steal all of his.

Taking something that's not yours = stealing.

[GryphonGuitar]

Wow - I didn't mean to stir up a storm here!

THanks for all of Your comments, guys - as for the fileshares, they were done using Rapidshare, which has an Abuses&Violations department who has now received requests by both us and our record company to remove the content from their servers.

The idea of the DMCA notice is an excellent one, and something I'll look into tomorrow.

And it's not us basing our success on the sales of our first album, that's the way it works - record companies can't afford loss leaders anymore, and You need to be making them money from day one unfortunately. I know that for us as a band, the more people that hear our music the better, so form that perspective filesharing is great, since more people show an interest in the band, spread the word and show up at gigs, and that kind of support is invaluable - but none of that, absolutely none of it is worth it if You get terminated by the label for losing money...

As I said before, I'm in no denial about the times we live in, I was expecting the CD to show up online eventually, I just didn't think it would happen this early on - obviously it was someone that received a promo CD, meaning a magazine, radio station or what not, and these are not people out of the business, these are people who know exactly how much this can end up costing us, and that's what pisses me off! It's not some fan that wants to share our music with the world, it's a guy or girl that should know exactly how broke the music business is these days and how much headache they're causing us.

Escape Music isn't some overpaid music business giant, it's two diehard music fans in England who are trying to scrape out a living doing what they love - and I totally understand that they have no money to lose - and have to make a profit. I know it's a dated marketing model, but it's what we have in these transitional times. Ancient models in a changing world where the business is struggling to reorient itself.

And I know I should do more than whine on a forum, and as I said I am, but this has to be a place where one can come and unload something like this.

I'm sorry to have unleashed so much anger and hostility.

[SEEGERMANY]

"the prosecution rests your Honor"

[thetroy]

I don't like the gas prices either, but I need it for my car. So by your logic, I can fill up my tank, just not pay and take off, right?

Sure. You're just a lot more likely to face negative consequences than I am for music.

[toejam]

If you like overpaying corporations, feel free to continue doing so. No one is forcing you to pay higher prices. You are free to do as I do.

I don't like the gas prices either, but I need it for my car. So by your logic, I can fill up my tank, just not pay and take off, right?

[thetroy]

If you like overpaying corporations, feel free to continue doing so. No one is forcing you to pay higher prices. You are free to do as I do.

[SEEGERMANY]

Yelling down at me from your old-guy towers of superiority doesn't accomplish anything.

That's a low blow and you know it. Frankly, I don't care if you download the universe for free. Like I stated, you've got to do what you feel is right for you. For me, the right thing to do is to buy CDs, buy tickets for concerts, and support "live" music as much as is humanly possible. Artists provide a product/service and I feel obligated to pay for this service/product if I have intentions of enjoying it.

[Bengal]

Troy,
And I answered that post with a few examples of how you can legally find out about bands and their music.

Don't want to do those? Or is it just easier to sit and download them?

If you want to hit the record companies for signing crap bands, downloading is not the way to do that. It just fucks it up for the rest of us.

But piss on us, right? Fuck all those dudes that actually PAY for their music. I can't afford it so fuck 'em.

I get it.

[thetroy]

This is a war? I don't see this either. If that's the case, burn down their buildings. All the record company is going to do is raise thier prices which effect all of us that don't steal.

This isn't a "young vs. old" thing but I knew that would get thrown out there.

It's a legal vs. illegal thing.

Bark all you want, it doesn't change that fact.

Oh but burning down their buildings carries a serious risk of hurting people and the environment along with an almost infinitely higher probability of being punished for doing so.


Stealing all of their shit, on the other hand, does not physically harm anyone or anything and can be done in relative anonynimity with little to no punishment.


As far as convincing you that it's victimless, well, my post with the 2 options is about the best I can give you in that regard. Who's the victim in that scenario and what do they lose?

[åron]

I buy CD's because of the superior sound quality. I dont care for MP3's, but thats me.

I do listend to bands material on youtube and live performances and if I like them I buy the CD.

The Music Industry is changing and if you are basing your success on the old model which is album sales you are already setting yourself up for failure. The big business is Merchandising and Itunes were people pay per a song.

Now a days people are just not buying whole albums. Alot has to do with a album just having one or two good songs or single realeses. Then the other songs just fall short leaving the user feeling burnt.

If your music is that good your band will not fail based on a leaked album. Like I said this is not 1991 and if you are basing your success on initial album sales you may as well throw in the towel.

+1 Excellent post! Hope the album in question is good enough.

[joelayres]

All the record company is going to do is raise thier prices which effect all of us that don't steal.

This isn't a "young vs. old" thing but I knew that would get thrown out there.

It's a legal vs. illegal thing.

Bark all you want, it doesn't change that fact.

Right on the money.